Golden Tides
by bookworm5695
Summary: Sally Jackson has given birth to a daughter. How will the first born demigod daughter of Poseidon deal with life when she has both a great prophecy and an ancient betrothal vying for her attention as both come closer and closer to completion on her sixteenth birthday.
1. Prologue: Betrothal

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan is a genius when it comes to adapting mythology and I wish I could have written what he has.**

 **Golden Waves**

 **Prologue**

 **Betrothals**

The two men were sitting quietly on opposite sides of the table, while a woman in black and red chiton red over a long roll of papyrus. Of course if one were to look closely at the two men, they would be able to tell that the two were not men at all. Their features were too perfect, their clothes, consisting of a royal blue chiton and golden peplos for the man on the right and a sea green chiton and shimmering mother of pearl pelpos for the on the left were to fine to have been made anywhere on earth, and the aura of power surrounding them would make any king or emperor seem as insignificant as an ant. No the two were not men but gods, two of the most powerful gods in fact. The one on the left was Poseidon, Ruler of the Seas, Earthshaker, Bringer of Storms, and Father of Horses. And the one on the right was his brother Zeus, King of the Gods, Lord of the Skies, and Wielder of Lightning.

The longer the woman was reading the more the two gods started to become impatient, and eventually bored. Poseidon started to smirk at his brother, for soon he will have won a great victory over his brother. Zeus who felt he was getting the raw end of the deal, just scowled at his brother. Poseidon's smirk got bigger causing Zeus to finger the lightning bolt at his side. A few more minutes went by and just as Zeus was getting ready to blast his brother back to his seas, the woman spoke.

"I have looked over the contract and once the two of you agree I will hold it to be binding. So let's get started so I can get back to my river. Do you Zeus swear on the waters of my river, that you will follow the following contract? That you will adhere to all the stated checks to your governing powers, which were established when Poseidon and Hera caught you in the golden net. To strengthen the agreement do agree to the wedding of your first demigod daughter, Aellai to Poseidon's son and heir Triton? And that Aellai upon marrying Triton will be given godhood? And if for whatever reason the wedding cannot take place, do you o swear that your son Apollo, God of the Sun, will wed Poseidon's first demigod daughter on her sixteenth birthday, whenever she may be born. And that upon her marriage to your son Apollo, that she will receive godhood. And if for whatever reason the either marriage shall not take place you will abdicate your thrown to your brother Hades, Lord of the underworld and submit to his rule." The woman asked the King of the Gods.

"I do so swear on you waters, Styx" vowed Zeus to the Goddess.

"And do you Poseidon swear on the waters of my river, that you will never conspire to upsurge your brother, Zeus so long as he adheres to the checks that have been stated. To strengthen the agreement do agree to the wedding of your son and heir Triton to Zeus's first demigod daughter Aellai, who upon her marriage will receive godhood. And if for whatever reason the two will not wed, do you swear that on her sixteenth birthday you will marry your first demigod daughter, whenever she may be born, to Zeus's son Apollo God of the Sun. And agree that upon her marriage to Apollo your demigod daughter will receive godhood. And if for whatever reason either marriage shall not take place you will submit to the rule of your older brother Hades, lord of the Underworld." Styx asked the Lord of the Seas

"I do so swear on your waters, Styx." Poseidon vowed.

"Then as witnessed by my river and I, I Styx Goddess of Hatred declare your oath binding once you have drunk from my waters." She says as she hands two cups of freezing water to the two gods to drink. Together the two brothers sip from their glasses shuddering as the water turns their veins to ice. The second the water passes the gods' lips the contract turns golden and embeds itself, in the rock lining the river, where it will remain forever more as proof of the brothers' vows.

 **As the vow is hapening**

"I, Aellai daughter of Zeus, pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the hunt." Said the black-haired girl, kneeling in front of the goddess Artemis.

The thirteen year old girl, had been kidnapped by a group bandits, who had taken joy in telling her exactly what they would do to her when they reached their camp. The men had gotten the drop on the demigoddess and had managed to hit her on the head, making it hard for her to focus her powers and fry the bastards with lightning. Just when Aellai thought that there was no hope her sister and her huntresses had burst out of the woods and killed the bandits.

Now kneeling at the feet of her savior, Aellai felt safe once again. Once the goddess accepted her oath, she would never have to worry about men again, and for a young girl who was just attacked it was the best deal in the world.

I accept you as one of my hunters, Aellai daughter of Zeus may you join me and your sisters in the hunt, forever more a maiden." Artemis said, and Aellai glowed silver as her new immortality took hold. Just then Hermes appeared.

"Aellai daughter of Zeus, Your father summons you to Olympus so that you may be married to Triton son of Poseidon, as part of an agreement between your father and his brother." The messenger god intoned.

 **A the next**

I, Stxy, Goddess of Hatred, witness the amendment made to the contract between Zeus king of the Gods and Poseidon Lord of the Seas. At such a time as Poseidon has his first daughter, the girl will be unable to escape her marriage to Apollo, God of the Sun, through any means including but not limited to, marrying someone else, taking a vow of maidenhood, and or entering the services of another immortal. If the first born daughter of Poseidon is to die before the wedding has taken place, her spirit is to be brought to Olympus, where she will be raised until she is of age to marry." The goddess intoned, adding the two brothers' ichor to a chalice containing water from her river and pouring the mixture over the old contract, where the new amendment was engraved in the gold.

 **I love the original Percy Jackson books, and k hope you do to. Please review, I also love to get comments on my stories.**


	2. It Only Takes One Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan is a genius when it comes to adapting mythology and I wish I could have written what he has.**

 **A.N. Thank you to everyone who decided to review and or favorite/follow my story. I will continue to update though I sometimes take a while to do so.**

 **Warning: there will be multiple mentions of a threesome in this chapter, so if you don't like it I would not read.**

 **Golden Tides**

 **It only takes one time**

 **September 3, 1945**

"I, Zeus, do so vow on the river Styx that I will father no more halfblood children, until such a time that the Great Prophecy is completed."

"I, Poseidon, do so vow on the river Styx that I will father no more halfblood children, until such a time that the Great Prophecy is completed."

"I, Hades, do so vow on the river Styx that I will father no more halfblood children, until such a time that the Great Prophecy is completed."

The council of Olympus watched solemnly, as the three sons of Cronos swore to have no more demigod children so that the great prophecy would never happen and Olympus would never be in danger of falling. Many were happy with the vow. Most of the Olympians found the children of the three brother gods to be too powerful, and either to crazy or arrogant to deal with and this vow would make sure there were no more. Hera, Amphitrite, and Persephone were all excited about the oath, as it meant their husbands would have to be faithful to them. However the most excited god was Apollo.

The sun god watched the three take their oaths and heard the thunder as they were accepted by the river and had a hard time not bursting into song. In the past three thousand years Poseidon had never sired a demigod daughter and now thanks to the great prophecy, he never would. Poseidon would not have any children until the prophecy was fulfilled and all three would not have any children unless they wanted the prophecy to be fulfilled. Apollo was finally free. He would have to get his oracle a nice present when he next saw her. He would have to also find out where she went, as he had not seen her since she went to have a talk with Hades at some hotel.

But for now he would have to go out and party, the fact that he no longer had to worry about being shackled to some mortal. Sure he knew that she would be gifted godhood, but the girl would have come into the arrangement with the expectations of a mortal. Especially in modern times the girl would not be accepting of an arranged marriage and would want things like love and fidelity. Apollo had had enough of love. It never worked out well for him, and he was sure it would not work out any better if he was married. And fidelity was a joke among the gods. Apollo was happy with his partying and he didn't want to have to answer to his wife, he had seen what Hera did to Zeus when he cheated, and he wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

Not that he had to worry about such things any more. Apollo styled his hair in the mirror, and went out to see if Hermes would like to join him in partying. There were sure to be a lot of parties going on tonight with the war having finally ended and Apollo had six hours to have fun before he had to take his chariot out.

Styx watched as Apollo practically skipped out of the great hall. The young god was incredibly foolish if he thought that the brothers' vow would protect him from his betrothal. Though the Zeus and Poseidon had pretty much forgotten the about the oath, it was still very much in effect. And though the river had been content to just hold the oath, as long as Poseidon continued to have children who might be able to fulfil it, now that the sea god had stopped, the river would take a more active role. Styx could already feel her waters reaching out of their borders, creeping and pulling the strings of the fates making sure that the vow would come to completion. After all one oath did not negate an older oath and this one had waited three thousand years to be realized. Styx couldn't wait to see what would come of it, after thousands of years she would bet that it would be only decades now.

 **September 7, 1992**

Amphitrite watched her husband pace in front of his throne. Over the past few years he had become more and more frustrated, and a frustrated sea god was not a good thing. Poseidon's temper had gotten so bad that he was snapping at everyone around, the servants, the guards, even her and Triton. Not to mention the trouble he was causing for the mortals either. The devastation that hurricane Andrew left in Florida would take years to completely fix, and she could already feel another storm that would probably make landfall if a few weeks as well. Amphitrite knew she had to do something to calm her husband down, but at the moment she had was becoming just as irritated as he was. Just then the god passed in front of the thrones again and she felt her own temper snapped.

"Would you stop that already, I am sick of this mood you're in. for the past decade you have been in some of the worst temper I have ever seen and I am done. What the Hades is wrong with you?" Amphitrite demanded. Her husband turned to her with a stormy expression, but something in her glare must have stopped him. While she might not be the lord of the seas like her husband, she did have her own power and Amphitrite could make Poseidon's life hell if he pushed her. Poseidon, raked his hand over his face and dropped down on to his throne.

"I don't know, Trite. Ever since my brothers and I made our pact I have been feeling increasing restless, and recently it has felt like I am being pulled by something. There is just this tugging in my mind that will not leave me alone. It's like I need to do something, but I have no idea what I have to do and I am just getting more and more frustrated that I can't figure it out." He said.

Amphitrite sighed, her husband had been so good since he made the oath with his brothers. He had stayed in the seas with her only leaving for council meetings, and then returning promptly. It had been a wonderful couple decades having her husband all to herself, but the sea was not ment to be contained, and her husband had contained himself for a longer time than ever before. Could she really fault him for being so stressed and frustrated when he was denying his very nature to be free?

Sure she did not like his affairs, but even she had had some affairs over the years. When one lived forever sex with only one partner could get dull no matter how much you tried to spice things up. Honestly she had no idea how Hera did it being faithful to her husband for so long, but then she guessed that it was the goddess's nature. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that her husband was incredibly stressed and frustrated and she needed to deal with it.

"Well, why don't we do something to help you relax?" she asked sitting down on his lap, and stroking his shoulder. Her husband just sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not in the mood Trite." He said and Amphitrite, started to get worried, he must really be in a mood to not take her up on her offer. Then she got an idea that she knew he would not refuse.

"I can see, but what if we went and found someone to help me get you into the right mood?" she asked running her fingers up the side of his Trident. That certainly got her husband's attention as his head whipped up to look at her. They had not added a partner to their activities in a few centuries, because they had a hard time agreeing on who they wanted to join them. Amphitrite preferred to invite someone from their kingdoms who would be properly reverent and honored to join them, while Poseidon liked the autonomy that coupling with mortals brought. But Poseidon needed to unwind and if this could help than she would follow his lead when it came to the partner. Besides if she gave him some time with a mortal maybe he would allow them some time with the pretty young naiad who had been eyeing them for the past year.

"That sounds like it could be interesting Trite, but I don't have the patience for some awed ocean dweller right now, and humans are off limits if I don't want to break my oath." He said. Amphitrite almost growled in frustration, who knew that she would be the one having to convince her _husband_ to have a threesome.

"That won't matter, husband. I have enough power over fertility being the mother of the ocean that I can make sure that the woman doesn't conceive, plus humans have improved contraception methods and now have these plastic sleeves that you can wear that will make sure that the woman does not get pregnant. If what Triton has mentioned about his time on the surface is true, than most people will actually require their partners to wear one now thanks to some new disease that has been spreading." She said hoping to convince him.

"Alright lets head up to the surface, its Labor Day weekend so there are probably a bunch of end of summer beach parties that we can crash." He said finally agreeing. Amphitrite swam of his lap and transformed into her human form, while her hair flew into a messy bun on top of her head, her crown turned into a sparkly head band and her blue pearl lined dress shifted into a short light blue sleeveless dress. Then she looked at her husband who grinned at her in a Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts. Amphitrite shook her head at her husband, and then snapped her fingers turning the hideous floured monstrosity into a tight dark green t-shirt that showed cased his impressive chest. She would never understand her husband's fondness for Hawaiian shirts.

Poseidon looked to his wife from where he was getting drinks from the bar. She was beautiful dressed in that short dress and she looked even more beautiful due to the fact that she was willing to go to such lengths to get him out of his funk. Right now she was sitting a on a towel watching as the people on the beach laughed and danced around the fires that people had made on the beach. They had been here for an hour and so far neither of them had seen anyone that caught their eyes. Poseidon was wondered if they would find someone or if they should try a different party. Just then a pretty brunet made her way over to the bar.

"I'll take a cherry coke, please." She said to the bartender and then turned to Poseidon "Hello I'm Sally, I haven't seen you around, most of us here have been working at the beach shops most of the summer." For a second Poseidon was speechless. This woman, Sally had the most beautiful eyes that he had ever seen on a mortal. They were the light blue, but that was too common a description instead he would say that they were the exact color of the water as it sparkled in the sun. Poseidon wondered if she was a decedent of Aphrodite, then he realize that he was staring and she was waiting for a response.

"No, you probably would not have seen me around here, my wife and I went out looking for a good time tonight and the party caught our eye. I'm Poseidon and over there is my wife Amy." He said pointing over to Trite, making sure to call her by the nickname she agreed to when they went to the party. They didn't want a mortal who knew their myths to question them on their names. Case and point Sally's eyes just widened at his name.

"Poseidon, like the Greek god? Wow, your parents must have hated you to give you that name I couldn't imagine the teasing you had to deal with during school." She said as the bartender brought over their drinks.

"No, my mother had a large interest in mythology, but she loved my siblings and I, and while my dad was a bit too restrictive with my older siblings and I things changed by the time my younger brother was born." He said amazed that he just equated centuries of being stuck in a stomach to his father being too restrictive. He then grabbed his and Trite's drinks and turned to head back to his wife when he suddenly made a decision. "Hey Sally, would you like to join Amy and me? If you worked nearby than you must know some of the best locations to visit if we decide to come back next summer."

Sally ended up joining them and all three of them ended up talking for hours. Poseidon went back to the bar at least three more times for drink refills, wine for Trite and him and cherry coke for Sally. Finally when the fires had died down to dark embers Sally headed back to her apartment, though not before agreeing to meet the two of them for breakfast at a diner that apparently had pancakes that were to die for.

They kept meeting up with Sally for another two months, going from breakfast, to coffee to dinner and parties. When October came Sally moved into an apartment in the city, getting a better paying job at a candy store and the three of them started to go to clubs together on the weekend. He and Amphitrite had come to really care for the mortal. She was kind and would often go out of her way to help those who needed it even when she did not have much herself. She was also smart and funnily enough had a huge love of mythology. At the end of their first month together he and Trite had revealed what they were to her and were surprised to find out that she was clear sighted and already knew they were different. Of course after finding out that they were gods, she had to ask them a million questions about the history they had seen. They also learned that Sally was rather stubborn and proud, when she would not let them take care of her like they thought they should, even after she learned that they were gods.

It was shortly after they reveled themselves to Sally that the three of them took their relationship to the next level. It was a wonderful time in their relationship. Poseidon and Trite told her about his restriction on having children and Sally who knew the stories of many of the old heroes agreed that she would not want to put a child through that kind of life. Unfortunately everything changed one day in November.

The anniversary of her uncle's death had just passed and the two of them, wanting to do something to cheer Sally up, took her to a party in some dryads were throwing in central park. It started out fine, he and Amphitrite made sure that Sally knew not to drink anything gold. They did not want her to spontaneously combust if she accidentally drank some ambrosia. They also made sure that everyone at the party knew that Sally was under their protection, as they did not want her sent away from the party if she got separated from them. What they didn't count on was that Dionysus owed one of the dryads a favor and agreed to supply the drinks for the party.

Sally groaned as she tried to leverage herself off her couch. She was nine months pregnant, as big as a whale, and had to pee every thirty minutes. The pregnancy had not been too bad, Amphitrite and Poseidon had stayed with her for her first two trimesters, trying to make things easier for her, but eventually they had to leave. Sally understood of course, Poseidon was not supposed to have children, and if they did not want Sally to be struck by lightning then they had to stay way so Zeus wouldn't find out. Of course, just because she understood why they had to leave didn't mean that Sally didn't miss them or didn't curse them for getting her pregnant.

They had been so careful not to get her pregnant, every time they got together Amphitrite kept her infertile and Poseidon made sure to wrap up, but like people always say it only took one time. One time when all three of them were so drunk off their asses from divine wine that they didn't even remember having sex let alone remember to use protection. So here she was sitting home alone pregnant. She had left the candy store, at the end of her eighth month when she started to have trouble moving around behind the counter. Luckily, Poseidon was able to convince the owners to give her three months paid maternity leave, when the store would usually just fire her and hire someone else.

Finally off her couch Sally grabbed the small duffle bag that she had sitting on her kitchen table and made her way out the door, as a sharp pain stabbed her gut. She had been having the pains for about an hour now and at first thought that they were Braxton-hicks contractions, but they had gotten worse and closer together, so she figured it was time she got to a hospital.

Nine hours of labor later and Sally was exhausted and sweaty and happy, so happy because her son had finally come into the world. And then she got the shock of her life.

"Here's your daughter Ms. Jackson, she a healthy six pounds five ounces. Do you have a name for her?" the doctor asked. Sally couldn't believe what she heard, daughter the doctor had handed her a daughter. It should have been impossible, Poseidon had told her that he had never had a halfblood daughter, but here she was laying in her arms a small tuff of dark hair already on her head. What would she name her daughter, if the child had been a boy she would have named him Perseus after the son of Zeus who actually had a happy ending. She wasn't cruel enough to name a girl Perseus though. She thought about maybe naming her Persephone or Artemis, but quickly discarded the idea. Her daughter was not supposed to exist, and she didn't want to attract the goddesses' attention by naming her daughter after them.

As she tried to think of a name, Sally shifted her daughter in her arms and the blanket she was wrapped in slid off the baby's shoulder, and something caught her eye. There on her daughter's shoulder was a dark mark. Sally tried to wipe it off, but after having no success she realized that it must be a birthmark. When she looked closely at the mark, she saw that it actually looked like a crown of laurel leaves. As Sally stared at the mark she realized that it could be a sign of what to name her daughter. However she didn't like the name Laurel, she had a horrible aunt named Lauren and Laurel was just too close to for her. Of course before the trees were known as Laurel trees they had a different name.

"Daphne* Salacia Jackson." Sally finally tells the doctor. Daphne for her birthmark and Salacia after the roman name of her step mother.

Three weeks later Sally is standing on the beach where she met her lovers. She had no idea how to get in touch with them, but she hoped that they would be able to feel her and Daphne if she stepped into the surf.

"It's a girl." She called out "You have a daughter." Getting no answer Sally turned to leave the water. She it was September and the beach was chilly, so she wanted to get Daphne inside. However, as soon as she turned around Sally ran into something hard. Stepping back she looked up to see Poseidon. He looked exactly the same as when he and Amphitrite left, but he wore the most intense look she had ever seen as he stared their daughter.

"A daughter?" He whispered, his eyes never leaving the baby in her arms.

"Yes, Daphne Salacia Jackson your daughter." She said before offering the baby to the sea god. He took her and cradled her close as though he could not believe that the child existed. Then something she said must have registered because he quickly looked up at Sally.

"Daphne, you said her name was Daphne. Sally we need to talk about our daughter's future." Poseidon said.

 **So * if you didn't know Daphne was the name of a Nymph that Apollo loved to turned into a tree. Essentially Apollo angered Eros, who got his revenge by shooting Apollo with a golden arrow making him fall in love with Daphne. Meanwhile he shot Daphne with a lead arrow which killed any feeling she had for Apollo and causing her to run from him. Daphne wanted to escape Apollo so badly that she went to her father who was a river god and asked him to turn her into a tree. Apollo heartbroken took some of the leaves from the tree and turned them into a crown that he used as one of his symbols.**


	3. 95 Sure that My Dad is A Crime Lord

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan is a genius when it comes to adapting mythology and I wish I could have written what he has.**

 **A.N. Thank you to everyone who decided to review and or favorite/follow my story. I will continue to update though I sometimes take a while to do so.**

 **Guest reviewers,** **aicila850** **and Heirofhowlingwolves: Thanks for all your positive feedback, I am glad you like the story and the name so far. And I am happy that you are excited for this chapter.**

 **Death Fury: I am happy that you like the story so far, and I love the myth as well though my favorite myth is the Persephone and Hades one.**

 **FFdotNET: The wonderful thing about fanfiction is that I am allowed to be as creative or cliché as I want in my story.**

 **Golden Tides**

 **I am 95% Sure that My Dad is a Crime Lord**

Have you ever had one of those days where you know that something important is going to happen soon, but you have no idea what that something is, or even if it will be good or bad. Like the important thing could be you winning a life time supply of Ben and Jerry's or it could be that you will be struck by lightning. That's what today felt like to me, I just hoped that whatever happened would be for the better, but I have a feeling that my luck is just not that good

My name is Daphne Jackson. I am twelve years old, with long black hair, that couldn't decide whether to be curly or wavy and green eyes. Currently I am standing around waiting for the bus the school charter to show up, so we could get on with our field trip to New York.

I watched all my class mates gather in front of the main school building. They were all chattering excitedly about how great a time they were going to have and how Mary and her friends were going to stay in a suite because her dad owned the hotel they were staying at and how Amanda and her group were going to a five star restaurant that her father recommended. My best friend Rachel was listening to the chatter as well and when I looked over at her she rolled her eyes.

There are a few things you should know about Rachel. For one she was probably richer than 75% of the girls at Elizabeth's Academy for Young Girls. Thankfully she had more sense than all of them. Another thing that you should know is that Rachel is a great artist, like I could see her selling her art one day and making a ton of money. And the final thing that you should know about Rachel is that she had a super power.

You see Rachel could see things that most people couldn't, things that I only got glimpses of. According to het there were monsters that would walk around the world completely hidden from normal people. Most people just saw whatever disguise that they had up, but once and a while I was able to see past it, usually when the monster was after me. Rachel could see them all the time. Her ability is actually one of the reasons we are friends.

We met during the first week of school, when I was running from what I thought was a gym teacher who was giving me really bad vibes. Though at the time I thought that he was just a pervert who wanted me alone in his office. I ran by Rachel, and after looking at what I was running from, she grabbed my hand and pulled me into a janitor's closet. While hiding Rachel asked if I could see the monsters too. I told her that I got glimpses of them sometimes, but more often than not they just felt off to me. We spent two hours hiding in the closet (see accidently locked in the closet) getting to know each other, until a different teacher found us and scolded us, for not being in our dorms for a mandatory headcount. It turns out that the gym teacher had been killed suddenly by an exploding water fountain and the teachers panicked when they couldn't find the two of us. However after those two hours and the subsequent week of detention we were best friends.

"You would think that none of them have been to New York City the way they are going on. Almost all of them live in the city, the only ones that should be this excited are the digs." She said motioning to the group of girls that stood together in front of a line of scary looking guys dressed in black suits.

She was right of course. You see Elizabeth's was the most prestigious girl's school in the north eastern United States, which meant that every girl in the school was fifthly rich and well connected. It also meant that each that nearly every one of them either lived in the city, had a house in the city or went on ridiculously expensive shopping trips in the city. The digs or dignitary's kids might not have had a chance to go yet depending on how long they live in the country.

And yes that nickname is weird, but in a girl's school with a million different cliques Rachel and I needed a way to distinguish between them. I won't go into all of them, but most of the groups ate sectioned off by their parent's career and their overall wealth. Rachel and I never really joined a group. Rachel because she was friends with me in the first week of school and being the wonderfully loyal friend she was, wouldn't leave me. Though she did sometimes hang out with the rebels, who somehow hated either their parents or what they did. And I didn't have a group because my life was complicated and had too many weird things that happened to me. Case and point.

Hey Ducky, that weird T.A. is staring at you again." Said Rachel as she looks over to where the teachers were standing. The T.A. she was talking about was the Latin assistant Grover, who was indeed weird. Grover sometimes seemed like he was too young to be a T.A., he was short and often wimpy to be in charge of a bunch of preteen girls. But he did have a beard, which ment he was probably older than he looked, and it sounds bad to say it this way, but he walked funny. When I asked him about it one time he told me that he had a muscular probable in his legs, and I figure that was why he was short as well.

Of course it was not just his looks that made him weird. No Rachel and I got over his looks within a few minutes of meeting him. What made Grover weird was that he tended to pay way too much attention to me and we often caught him watching me. The funny thing was that I should not have even been around him that much, because I didn't take Latin at Elizabeth's. I took French. However I was fluent in both Latin and Ancient Greek, thanks to my Mother.

When I say mother I am actually talking about my stepmother. My mom is still in the picture and she actually raised me, but I have been calling my step mother, mother for as long as I can remember. I once sat down and talked to my mom about this as I was worried it was making her uncomfortable, since my dad had been married when he knocked up my mom. It turned out that she was actually the one who encouraged me to start calling her mother, because "That woman was there when you were conceived, and had just as much hand in it as your father, so why wouldn't you acknowledge your connection." I often wished we had never had that talk; there are just somethings that I didn't need to know about my parent's sex lives.

Anyway since my dad's family is super weird an all speak Ancient Greek and Latin, my mother decided that my mom and I should speak it was well. Because of this we have been learning the two languages since I was four, and whenever we are with my Dad and Mother they speak to us in the two languages. Unfortunately my background with the Latin was found out by the teacher Mr. Brunner, and he would arranged for me to work with Grover to plan the tournament days he had every Friday. It wouldn't have been that bad either. I got a ton of extra credit and a chance to use my language skills as well as plan fun ways to torture the other girls. The one problem was working with Grover, who always seemed to find a new way to become creepier, like when I though I caught him sniffing me last week.

"Don't call me Ducky! It's Daphne." I say as I see her open her mouth to call me my hated nickname. "Just ignore him Red, you said he was human, so he isn't dangerous." I told her. If she was going to call me Ducky then I could call her Red, which was both a nickname for her bright red hair and because the first letters of her name Rachel Elizabeth Dare spelled it out.

"Look if I call you Daffy you might end up with therapy sessions again" ( I threaten to shave _one_ girl's head because she won't stop calling me Daffy and suddenly I need therapy to work out my aggression issues. ) "So it has to be Ducky, besides it works because you love the water so much. And just because T.A. stares-a-lot doesn't look like a monster, it doesn't mean he's not dangerous. You don't need to be a monster to be a sicko and he shouldn't be paying such close attention to twelve year old. Maybe you should tell your dad the next time you see him, he can have someone break Grover's knee caps or something." She said. I know it is odd that she would think that my dad would have someone do something like that to some guy, so I should probably explain.

You see I don't see my dad a lot. I only get to be with him twice a year, but even seeing him for only a day in the winter and a week in the summer are enough to figure out that there is something strange about my dad. So Rachel and I had this game where we would try to guess what was up with my dad, and one time after watching the Godfather, Rachel guessed that my dad was in the mafia. Once she said it, I started to think that she might have been right. There was a lot of proof to the claim too.

Some of the things were obvious, like the fact that I only saw my dad two times a year, because he disappears for the rest of the year. I also knew that my dad was rich, but when I tried to find out how, all I got were vague answers about running a shipping company. Or I would get told that I would be told when I was older, or my om would tell me it was safer if I didn't know more. Another weird thing, was that when my dad, mother, mom and I got together for a week in the summer instead of going on some high end cruise or out of the country like most of the girls at the school, we went back to the beach where my parents met and hung out at the beech for a week. Not that I didn't love going to the beach. I always felt better when I was near the ocean, and I had a great time playing in the ocean. My dad and I would do a different water activity a day, while my mom and mother hung out together on the beach. However as much as I liked it, it was almost like my parents were trying to hide that they were with me and my mom. They always seemed to be super ware of everything and tried to keep us all in the most secluded parts of the beach.

Then there were all the times that I found someone watching me. A few time it was someone who my dad had sent to check on me in secret. That didn't always work out. There was this one guy who was so bad at not being seen that he was run off by the cops twice after teachers found him watching me on the playground. Unfortunately there were also times where the person was not sent by my dad. When I was three someone put a snake on my nap time cot. The teachers found me crying because Mr. Snakey wouldn't wake up after I hugged him. At the time I hadn't learned to temper my strength and I grabbed the snake too hard. Not that I am supper strong but, I have always seemed to be just a bit stronger than those around me. The last time it happened, some scary guy in a suit named Mr. Thorn was asking around my school. Once my mom found out about it, she called my dad and he had mom send me to Elizabeth's a month into fifth grade.

There was also the fact that my dad's whole family spoke Ancient Greek and Latin. They were dead languages and the whole family according to my mother spoke them fluently. The only reason that I could come up with for that was that they could be positive that they would not be understood when doing some sort of business deal. And on the topic of family, I have never met any of my dad's family. The only person I have is my half-brother Triton, and I know that the fact that he was named after the mythical Poseidon's son while being the son of someone name Poseidon is weird, but along with the Greek and Latin the family also has a habit of naming people after mythical figures. I mean I'm named after a nymph that was turned into a tree.

But weird names aside, I know that I have uncles and aunts on my dad's side but, I have never met them and I am not even sure if they know I exist. Sometimes I wonder if my dad is keeping my existence a secret. Like the mafia has some kind of rule about children born out of wedlock and they would have me killed if they found out I existed.

Of course, all this was relatively small compared to my biggest piece of proof. My dad made my stepdad disappear. I don't blame him for making my stepdad disappear, but it does show that my dad has definite ties to organize crime. My stepdad was a huge jerk, and I am not even sure why my mom married him. I was seven when she got married, and a lot of strange stuff had been happening. One night on vacation I heard my mom arguing with my dad about ways to keep me more protected, probably from my dad's enemies, but they couldn't agree. A few weeks after our summer vacation, mom came home with a man named Gabriel Ugliano, who I immediately took to calling Smelly Gabe. The guy smelled like old pizza, gym socks and beer, it was revolting. She told me that Gabe would be my new stepdad and that he would help us get by. Which was strange because my dad gave my mom enough money for child-support that we were able to live comfortably in our small apartment.

He and my mom married after I had only known the guy for a week. Smelly Gabe had a job at the electronics department at some Walmart, and I figured he wanted in on the extra money my dad gave us. He treated my mom awful, always ordering her around and forcing her to do all the work around the house while he just sat on his fat ass and played poke with his buddies. He was creepy too. Gabe would looked me up and down and say "You'll be a real beauty in a few years. I can't wait until your old enough to show me how much you appreciate you stepdaddy."

Thankfully Smelly Gabe was not around for very long. I came home early from school one day because a truck had taken out a powerline and caused the school to lose power, and I entered our apartment to see Smelly Gabe hit my mom, sending her sprawling on the ground. His back was to me so he didn't see me enter, and my mom seemed to be unconscious. I grabbed the wooden bat that we kept by the front door and crept up behind Gabe. I knew that I was not tall enough to do much damage if I tried to hit him on the head, so I brought him down to my level, bringing the bat up hard between his legs. Then when he was hunched over in pain I brought the bat down on the back of his head. Once I was sure he was down, I ran to my mom's room and dug through her underwear draw until I found emergency phone that my dad had given her.

Once I called I got through to my dad and told him what happened, I was reassured that he would take care of it. I went back to the living room to check on my mom who was stirring and helped her on to the couch. I told her what happened and she told me that she was proud of me for protecting her and calling my dad. As we waited for whoever my dad was sending to take care of the mess, whatever that ment, we talked about what was going to happen next and my mom told me that my dad might start sending people to watch over me as her method had worked. I was confused on how Smelly Gabe was protection, but mom just told me that I would understand when I was older. During that time Gabe stirred twice, and both time my mom took the bat and hit him over the head again.

After about an hour, mom and I heard a knock on the door, and when we opened it we were greeted by two huge men in sunglasses and trench coats. They came in to the apartment and handed mom some papers, including documentation that mom had complete access to all Gabe's bank accounts, and a letter in Gabe's writing that said that he had decided to give up all his worldly possessions and join a commune in Kansas. Then they packed up all Smelly Gabe's stuff, hit the man over the head one last time, stuffed him in a giant duffle bag and left. That was the last time I saw Smelly Gabe. I am pretty sure that the guy is fish food.

However as much as I am grateful to my dad for getting rid of Smelly Gabe, it is still really suspicious that he was able to get to goons to come over and make him disappear. I like to think of the incident as definite proof that my dad is part of organize crime and considering that he was rich enough to get me into Elizabeth's I figure that he is pretty close to the top, if not the top of the organization. It also makes sense that my parents wouldn't tell me about my dad's profession. If I have no idea what he does, then if he is arrested for something then I can't get in trouble for knowing something I shouldn't.

Of course, knowing my dad's hidden profession and the fact that he has people watching me, I sometimes think that Grover might be watching me for him. Though with how creepy the T.A. is he might also be some sort of assassin sent to kill me by one of my dad's enemies or crime lord rivals. But the fact that he is weird usually means that he is one of my dad's men, as they are usually very weird. I told you about the one who had the cops called on him. But I also had a watcher who loved to knit and bake.

Aphy, was in a wheel chair, which made me wonder initially how he could protect me but his upper body was huge. His biceps were probably as wide as my eight year old self's waist. It doesn't seem like a guy who looked like a professional body builder from the waist up would like to bake and knit but this guy did, and his brownies were fantastic. I was sad to see him and his goodies go, but he told me that he was away from his main office too long and his soul was longing to go back to his natural environment. Aphy was incredibly dramatic as well. After Aphy there were a bunch of watchers who preferred to stay out of the way and not talk to my mom and me, but what was odd about most of them is that they all seemed to have trouble walking. Their legs always seemed to be unsteady in some way.

Rachel nudges me out of my thoughts and I see that the busses are finally pulling up. It's no surprise that it took them this long to get here, as Elizabeth's has crazy tight security and they were probably all stuck at the gate for over an hour while the campus security scanned them for bombs and other things. But I wish they would have taken that into account and had us come later so the whole seventh grade class was not stuck standing on the front lawn. Just then the Vice Principle Smith, appeared at the top of the front steps with a microphone.

"Alright Ladies, as you can see the bus have arrived. Now I have a few announcements to make before we all board and leave for the city. As you know this trip will take all week end and we will not be getting back until late Sunday night, so if you have homework that you need to turn in I suggest you make sure you have it with you to do on the trip. The bus ride should take about two hours and a half as long as we don't hit any traffic. We will be to our hotel around three and you have free time until seven to unpack, explore the hotel, and get dinner before we all head to the theater to see Wicked. During your free time you are allowed to go where you please without a chaperone so long as you stay inside the hotel. On Saturday we will be going to the statue of liberty and Elis Island, and afterwards you will have free time to go shopping or sightseeing on your own as long as you bring a chaperone with you. Finally on Sunday we will be spending the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and you are also allowed to leave the museum to go to central park as long as you bring a chaperone.

Now as you all probably know, we were a chaperone short when Mrs. Kerr fell and broke her leg yesterday. Luckily her substitute was able to get here quickly so we have enough chaperones again. As you know all the other facility that will be chaperoning the trip, let me introduce Mrs. Dobbs, your math teacher until Mrs. Kerr can get back on her feet." He said as he stepped to the side and gestured to the woman who walked up next to him.

The woman was tall and pretty old, I would guess that she was around her mid-sixties at least, but she sure didn't dress like it. Her greying hair was in a bun and she had a dress on, but the dress was the color of old blood and over it she had a leather jacket and instead of heels she had on these heavy looking boots. I wonder how she got around the facility dress code as it was insanely strict making sure that all teachers looked the part of being from Elizabeth's.

And then as she scanned the crowd of girls, her eyes landed on me and a shiver went up my spine. There was something wrong with this woman and it wasn't just that she was glaring at me like I was devil's spawn. She reminded me of many of the other monsters who had attacked me during my life. When Rachel grabbed my hand tightly and whispered monster in my ear, I really wasn't surprised.

 **A.N. so it took forever to get this chapter out because about halfway through I decided that I didn't like the third person point of view that I had going and had to rewrite the chapter as first person. I probably won't go back to change the first two chapters because they are both more like prologues than the main story so I am fine leaving them in a different pov.**


	4. Beware! Exploding Substitute Teachers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan is a genius when it comes to adapting mythology and I wish I could have written what he has.**

 **A.N. Thank you to everyone who decided to review I am happy that everyone liked the story so much and I hope this new chapter meets your expectations. Thanks also for favorite/follow my story. I will continue to update though I sometimes take a while to do so.**

 **Golden Tides**

 **Beware! Exploding Substitute Teachers**

The second the announcement was over Rachel and I rushed for our bus trying to get away from our terrifying new teacher. I sat in my window seat and watched Mrs. Dobbs get on a different bus and was extremely thankful that Rachel and I were moved to Mr. Brunner's group. At first we were supposed to be in Mrs. Porter's group, which was great as Mrs. Porter was a terrific teacher. She was the etiquette teacher at Elizabeth's, no big surprise that the prep school had a mandatory etiquette class, but Mrs. Porter was somehow able to make the class bearable. For one she was this tiny old lady who had to be at least in her mid-eighties, and had a posh English accent. This would seem like a lead up to her being a stuck up stickler for rules and etiquette making the class hell, but Mrs. Porter made sure to express that there was a time and place for all her lessons and that we did not need to be perfect all the time.

Then there was the fact that Mrs. Porter was one interesting old lady. Whenever we had free time in class she would tell us stories about different parts of her life. We learned about how she was a nurse stationed near the frontlines during world war 2, where she met her first husband. She would talk about working for the salvation army with husbands two and four in South America and Africa. She even told us about her time in Japan with husband number 3. Mrs. Porter unfortunately seems to have a large number of late husbands.

The best thing about Mrs. Porter though was that she was badass. She knew how to shoot, fence and she learned how to use fans in combat while in Japan1. Mrs. Porter actually started a club at school where she taught girls how to use fans to defend themselves, as she said that we were all targets and needed some way to keep us from being damsels in distress. I joined the club as soon as I heard of it and was never happier. Of course my parent made sure I could defend myself before I even joined the club. (no doubt to help me if any of my dad's rival crime lords came after me) I started gymnastics and karate when I was five, and even joined the fencing club in my old school, but ever since the first club meeting I have been fascinated by using battle fans. With them I am able to use all the knowledge of where and how to hit that I gained achieving my black belt last summer, and they allow me to take advantage of the flexibility I gained after seven years of gymnastics. While I still like a foil for reach I preferred the mobility of the battle fans.

But kickass teacher aside, while it would have been great to still be in Mrs. Porter's group she was sharing as bus with Mrs. Kerr's group, which would have two and a half hours on a cramped bus with the newest monster to enter my life. So now I am extremely thankful for the huge cat fight, that caused them to redistribute the groups because between having to put up with Mr. Brunner and his T. A. or Mrs. Dobbs, I would pick Creepy Grover every time.

I looked away from the window and over to Rachel who was furiously drawing on her trusty sketch pad. Mostly she kept the pad nearby for when ever she got inspiration for one of her paintings, however she also used it to sketch out the monsters that she saw. I saw Rachel put her pencil down and reached into my bag to grab The Book. The Book was a gift my mom gave me soon after she met Rachel, and learned that she could see the monsters around us. The Book was a rather large encyclopedia of fictional monsters, with it Rachel and were able to figure out what monsters she was seeing and how to avoid them. Most of the time it was easy, as the monsters just seemed to be going about their business when we saw them and we just avoided going near them but, once we had been cornered in central park by stymphalian birds. Thankfully we had the book, and Rachel had some really awful yodeling music on her ipod that drove the birds off (apparently it helped inspire her when she painted mountain landscapes).

Rachel showed me her sketch and I quickly flipped through The Book looking for a description that matched it. I stopped at aria first because the description was similar, but neither Rachel or I had ever killed anyone, so the spirits who embodied curses given by the dead would not have been attracted to us. And the monster was definitely here for us if the death glare she gave me earlier was anything to go by.

It was when I go to the e's that I suddenly paled at one description that I read. Erinyes, or as they were also called furies, fit the description perfectly. This was bad this was very bad we had a vengeance spirit in our school and focused on us. I wonder if she was there to get vengeance for something one of our dad's did. Both their professions had them making enemies who wanted revenge. Rachels sees me pale and looks over a the book.

"Merde! Fur" is all she gets before I push my hand over her mouth. The monster was already near by and we didn't need to focus on us more. My mom was very specific about not saying a monster's name after learning what it was. She said that names had power and if we didn't want the monster to notice us and go after us we were never to say the monster's name. When I asked her how she knew this, she told me that while she did not see as well as she did when she was younger she still remembered what she did see.

"What the heck, Rachel you should no better than to shout out a name. Also just because you curse in another language doesn't mean it's not a curse. If we were at my house my mom would wash your mouth out with soap. Don't forget that she knows French as well as Ancient Greek and Latin." I scolded my friend, though the second part was more playful

"Yeah sorry, the monster freaked me out, and don't you get on me for cursing I learned French curses from you and your mom. Your mom has quite the vocabulary when she stubs her toe." She shot back.

"Please you should have heard her the time she dropped something heavy on her foot, I heard Greek, Latin, French and English curses that went on for a full five minutes. Of course when she realized I had heard all of them I was told that if I used any of them I would be tasting soap for a week." I told her, before becoming serious again. "What are we going to do though, the new teacher is not some mutant bird that can be scared away with music?"

"The monsters usually stay under the radar, so she will probably not attack us if we are with a group of people. All we have to do is stay in our group and avoid being alone with her. Simple, besides she is not our chaperone and will be to busy looking after her group to bother us on the field trip." Rachel said.

"Yeah, but what about when we get back? She will be our teacher and it's not like we can drop out of math class. Plus as our teacher she can ask us to stay behind after class." I said.

"Maybe Mrs. Kerr will be back by then, I mean she could still teach while in a wheel chair." Rachel said trying to be hopeful, but we both knew that the fury would not leave us alone that easy. "Can you talk to your mom, if you explain things to her she might be able to get you to do self-study for math, especially since the new teacher seemed more focused on you. Maybe she can even meet up with us in the city and help us."

"She can't I asked if she wanted to meet up with us this weekend already, but her boss is sending her to sell their stuff at some candy convention out of state and she won't be home until we are on our way back to school on Sunday night. I'll call her as soon as we get back to school though and maybe she will be able to help." I tell her.

We spend a bit more time coming up with plans to avoid Mrs. Dodds, before working on some home work that would be due on Monday. I got about half way through my English homework before I couldn't stand seeing the words float around the page anymore. I hated that I had dyslexia, especially since my mom was successful in passing down her love of the written word to me. As much as I loved to read most of it was hard to get through. Of course my mom and I found some ways around my limitations. Reading in different languages most notably ancient Greek was easier than reading in English, so many of my own books were in ancient Greek, or Latin, or even French. While reading French was not as easy as Greek or Latin it was the easiest language to get books in.

I put away my homework and stared out the window bored. The longer I stared outside the more I wanted to move, my leg started to bounce, and soon I was almost vibration in my seat. Rachel turned and glared at me.

"Jeesh I know that you need to move with your ADHD, but you are shaking the both our seats and I want to take a nap before we get into the city. Didn't you pack a book so you wouldn't get bored on the trip." She said. Remembering I had stuck a few books in my bag for the trip I reached in and grabbed one. It was the Oresteia by Aeschylus2. I was about half way through the second play Libation Bearers where Oresties and Electra plan to avenge their father.

By the time we hit the city I was pale and shaking having got a good way into the third play, which was titled the Eumenides another name for the furies. The whole play was about Oresties trying to escape the vengeance of the furies. They chase him from Argos all the way to Athens. If I wanted a way to distract myself from the monster that had infiltrated our school I picked the wrong reading material, and now I knew that I would have nightmares of hags chasing me all over the country.

"Are you okay Daffy, your clutching your book rather tight. What did you read that scared you so much" She said after waking from her nap when the bus stopped. She tried to pull the book out of my hands, but I slammed it shut and shoved it back into my bag.

"You don't want to know, trust me," I tell her no need for Rachel to be just as freaked as I was. I loved reading ancient stories and plays, especially the plays as most of them I could download for free in their original language, but I will admit that many of the myths and stories were not very kid friendly. Many included death, and revenge or someone going against the gods and being cursed horribly. I knew many of the myths from heart from reading them in the original Greek or my mom telling me stories when I was younger though she did try to keep them as pg as possible.

I remember when I reread the Iliad, which was one of the first stories I remember my mom reading to me and finding out that she left a lot out. Not that I blame her for censoring my bed time stories if the nightmares that were going to keep me up tonight were any indication ancient literature was really not safe literature to read to little kids.

I was shaken from my thoughts by Rachel getting out of her seat. We were finally getting off the bus, and would be heading into our rooms in the hotel. we headed into the lobby where we got our keys and headed to our rooms to unpack for the weekend. Luckily it was just Rachel's parents put out the extra money so that Rachel only needed to room with one girl instead of three, so we had our own room and did not have to watch what we talked about.

Unpacked Rachel and I headed back to the lobby and headed to the Starbucks that was situated in the back corner. We grabbed a couple java chip fraps and sat down to work on our plans to avoid Mrs. Dodds. Hopefully it would not be too hard to keep away from her.

Rachel and I sat down on the wide stone steps as we watched people gather around the falafel and pretzel carts in front of the Met. Mr. Brunner and the other teachers, were all in the museum buying our entrance passes, while trusting that all the girls would remain on the steps waiting for them. Well not completely trusting them I amended as I saw Mrs. Porter seem to materialize out of nowhere to stop a group from heading into the park.

It was finally Sunday and Rachel and I were doing pretty good in our quest to avoid Mrs. Dodd. There were a few close calls like when she almost cornered us at the snack bar at Wicked, but for once I was thankful for Creepy Grover as he appeared to escort us back to our seats. Luckily Rachel's dad was going through one of his if-I-give-you-lots-of expensive-stuff-I am-a good-da- even-If-I-ignore-you-later phases, and upgraded our entire groups seats to the front row. This ment we didn't have to worry about Mrs. Dodds who was fifteen rows back, and we got first row seats to wicked which was the best show I had ever seen. I would have to convince my mom to try to get tickets to see this she would love it and I would get to see it again, maybe we could take Mother as well, and make it a girls day.

We were worried that she would have more opportunities to try and get us when we went to Ellis island, but surprisingly she stayed at the hotel on Saturday, with the teachers seeming to be perfectly alright with one of the chaperones bailing out on the day's trip. Of course she tried to make up lost time by trying to isolate us while shopping. Unfortunately for her, she was stuck with a group of the worst shopaholics and was dragged from store to store while our group stuck to only a few boutiques. Just then Mr. Brunner came out of the museum and started to hand out passes.

"Alright, here's how this is going to go. We are trusting you to wonder around the museum by your selves as long as you stay in groups of two or more and do not leave the building. If you are caught trying to leave the building without an adult you will be written up and will be in detention for the rest of the year and not allowed to go to the end of year lake party. now everyone will be having lunch on the steps at noon, which is two hours, from now. Make sure you show up because we will be having a mandatory head count. We will be leaving the for the school at four so try to be here at least at a quarter to so we can all get on the busses on time." Mr. Brunner explained to our group be fore handing out our tickets and pamphlets that had the tours and activities that were going on today.

Rachel and I grabbed our tickets and headed into the Met. After having our bags checked we found a bench and sat down to plan out what we would see first. I knew that Rachel would want to spend at least an hour or two gazing at the paintings they had on the upper floors, while I wanted to go through the all the Ancient Greek statues and pottery they had. We both also wanted to see the Egyptian temple that they had here.

We decided to see the temple first as there was a tour of the Egyptian exhibit that was going on, and we both didn't know much about the Ancient Egyptians. After the tour we would explore the parts of the Met that seemed interesting until lunch. After we ate we would split our time evenly between what Rachel wanted to see and what I wanted to see.

Rachel and I lucked out by going on the tour when we did, because not only were we able to get into the temple before a huge line formed, but while on the tour we met Professor Kane who was at the Met to show his son his area of expertise. He didn't mind us listening in as he told his son all about the artifacts and we were seeing as well as giving us a crash course in Egyptian mythology.

We ended up spending so much time with Prof. Kane that we only had time to see the swords through the ages exhibit, and listen in on a private tour of the 18th century France exhibit. Which actually gave us some really interesting information, about the paranoia of the royalty at the time.

After lunch we first made our way upstairs to the paintings, figuring that since most of the stuff I wanted to see was on the ground floor it would be easier to go from it to the busses than trying to find our way down later.

It was when we were taking a small break by the water fountains before heading back down stairs that things started to go downhill. Before that Rachel and I were having a great time looking at all the different paints, even if sometimes I became a little antsy at how long Red would take looking at some. However as were taking a small break this arrogant obviously compensating for something teen came up to us. You know the ones right, they do alright on their junior varsity team and their parents while not Elizabeth's rich were successful doctors or something. They are the big fish in their schools, but can't seem to get that they are usually unwanted by anyone who doesn't care about their school's foot ball record. The kind of guy that after he hit on a twelve year old who didn't show him any interest immediately tries to chat up her best friend. To be fair the guy wasn't more than thirteen or fourteen himself so he wasn't a creep, just a jerk. So anyway Mr. junior varsity, which is what I am calling him because I don't remember his name comes over, and starts to talk to me.

"Well now what is a beautiful girl like you doing in a boring place like this? Did your parents drag you here to? If you want we could go find a place where I can entertain each other." Mr. JV said. Now from the previous paragraph I probably sound like a stuck up bitch, and I will not deny that I can be. But I had no problem with the guy before he opened his mouth and insulted my intelligence and propositioned me, while completely ignoring Rachel.

"How about no. I actually like this boring place as you called it and see no reason to be entertained by someone who wouldn't know how to without reading a for dummies book about it." I told JV drawing on my inner bitch, I had to be firm now or he would spot weakness and continue to bother us.

After my put down, JV glared at me and then shifted his position and focus to Rachel. He ended up leaning on the water fountain next to the bench as he now tried to get in with the girl he just ignored. Boys were idiots, especially teenage boys. I sometimes wondered if they were just hit by a stupid stick every morning between the ages of thirteen and twenty.

"Hey since your friend seems to want to drag you around all this shit why don't we leave her to it and have some fun." He said proving my previous point.

"Yeah no I will stick with my friend here, you can never know how contagious other people's stupid is, and I know I won't catch anything from her. Not so sure about you though." Rachel threw back at the guy and snorted. JV's face became thunderous, and I felt my gut clench ready to give the guy what for. However just as he seemed about to go off on us he must have shifted wrong on the water fountain because just as he opened his mouth the water came on and sprayed him all down his back.

Rachel and I cracked up as the guy completely embarrass, by his surprise shower stomped away. We must have laughed for a few minutes, probably freaking out all the people who came by the fountain area, but for some reason JV being sprayed was hilarious and every time we caught each other's eye we remembered it and started to laugh all over again. We probably would have gone on longer but I happened to look up and saw Mrs. Dodds staring us down from across the area. She wouldn't be able to do anything as there was a decent crowd of people around us, but seeing her was our que to get the heck out of there.

We quickly made our way to the exhibits I wanted to see and lost ourselves in the ancient history. It was tons of fun as Rachel would often have me translate any writing we found and most of it was so fragmented that it made no sense. We ended up in a room where Mr. Brunner was explaining the significance of a carving of the Greek gods fighting against Kronos.

"Ah here's one of my teaching assistants now, would you be able to tell us what lead up to the fight depicted here." Mr. Brunner said as he saw Rachel and I walk up. I withheld the urge to sigh, as Mr. Brunner brought us to the attention of our classmates. I wanted to explore the room not tell some classmates a story that most could probably care less about.

"Well Kronos the guy the three other men are fight was the leader of the Titians. He one day heard a prophecy that his children would overthrow him one day like he overthrew his own father Uranus." (Que childish snickers.) "Because of this prophecy he decided to swallow all his children as soon as they were born. However his wife didn't like that her husband kept eating their children and so she hid her youngest child, Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. Not sure how that worked but maybe Zeus looked like a rock when he was born." As I said this I heard thunder outside, which was odd as it was supposed to be sunny today, but maybe it was a large truck going by that sounded like thunder.

"Anyway Zeus grew up and was eventually able to feed his father some sort of mustard mixture which made him throw up his siblings, who being gods and immortal themselves were still alive and fully grown despite the time spent in their father's stomach. After which all gods banned together and with powerful weapons made by the cyclopes overthrew the Titians. Zeus then tricked his sister into marrying him and became king of the gods even though he had two older brothers Hades and Poseidon that probably had more right to rule then him." I finished and thunder sounded again. I guess the weather man was wrong about today being sunny, which would suck. I left my umbrella in my suitcase which is now in the bottom of the bus.

"So that's the story, as you can see the carving here shows Kronos against his three sons. Now let's move on to some of the other pieces while we are here." Mr. Brunner rushed out looking nervously at the ceiling. I never would have thought that he was afraid of thunder, but I was glad that it distracted him. If it hadn't he would have kept me with his group longer to expand on the story more.

After my impromptu lecture I wandered around the room until something caught my eye. It was a spartan funerary carving that was remarkably well preserved. I was reading the inscription describing the girl and found that it was mentioned that she was the daughter of the god Aries. I thought that only sons of Aries would be acknowledged or thought to exist, but this girl must have been a fantastic fighter if the people back then thought that she was the daughter of a god. Unfortunately according to the inscription the girl died at age fourteen. That poor girl she was only two years older than me and she died. She probably didn't even die in battle. She would have been married by thirteen or fourteen and probably died giving birth or something.

I became so lost in my thoughts about the girl that I didn't notice when everyone left the room, including Rachel. I only came out of my thoughts when creepy Grover put his hand on my shoulder. By then I realized that the only people around were me, Grover, and a rapidly approaching Mrs. Dodds.

"Come on Daphne let's go find where Ms. Dare went." Grover said as he looked nervously at Mrs. Dodds, who was now only a few feet away.

"Why don't you allow me to get Ms. Jackson to her missing buddy. You should probably catch up with Mr. Brunner. I'm sure that he could use your help explaining the history in this part of the museum." Mrs. Dodds smirked as she shooed the TA out of the room.

"Now dear I am so glad I found you. We weren't sure at first, but that display with the idiot mortal definitely clued us in. now I will give you one chance to own up to it and give it back before I use force." She said in an evil purr as she stalked towards me. I just kept backing up, thinking that my dad's criminal life was about to catch up with me. I wonder what my dad or his people stole to get a vengeance spirit after me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. How about you explain what you are looking for so I can tell you that I don't have it." I say getting snarky in the last half. My dad may be a criminal, but was no thief and I wouldn't stand to be accused of being so. Besides my dad loved me and would never give me anything that would endanger me.

"That was your one chance." She growled. Then a everything happened at once. Rachel ran through the door way shouting my name, at the same time as Mr. Brunner came through the other door way and threw something at me.

"Daphne catch!" he shouted and my hand closed around a sword hilt. I the second it took to realize what I was holding it saw that the sword wasn't what I was used to being shorted and more leaf shaped than the long thin foils I was used to, but as Mrs. Dodds shed her human appearance and leaped at me the shape of the sword didn't matter.

My instincts took over with the sword in my hand and I performed a picture perfect lunge impaling the fury. I got a good look at the monster that was stuck on my sword, and for a moment she had the most comically shocked expression. Then after a second she exploded into bright golden dust, like a Tinkerbelle wannabe.

As soon as the Fury was gone I was tackled by Rachel. She grabbed on to me and there was no way that I would be able to pry her off, so I just pat her on the back soothingly.

"Calm down Red, I'm fine." I told her. She was a tough girl, but I am sure we were both shaken by the fury.

"Don't Call me Red and don't tell me to calm down I am right to be scared you were nearly killed and I couldn't do anything. If it wasn't for Mr. Brunner you would be dead. So don't tell me to calm down." She ranted at me, which was good it ment that she was going from scared to angry.

"Okay, okay. Your right that was terrifying, but we have to relax because we don't have long until we need to meet for the busses. And we have to figure out what to do with the sword?" I ended in a question because when I turned my attention back to the sword, it was no longer there. Instead I had a green pen in my hand.

"Well that's weird." Said Rachel. I would say that that was an understatement, but after just being attacked by a fury, a sword turning into a pen really didn't seem like much. "I guess we should just give Mr. Brunner back his pen."

I shrugged. It was a good idea. I had no idea how to make the pen a sword again and who knew what else it could do. It would be better in the hands of someone who knew more about it. Though I would try to get Mr. Brunner to tell me where I could get two like it. If the sword could kill a fury then it was sure to be able to help with the other monsters that were out there and you never knew when Rachel or I would be attacked by what she could see.

We made our way to the front of the museum and saw Mr. Brunner off to the side with an umbrella and small table attached to his wheel chair, turning it into a portable café area. We walked over to Br. Brunner and he looked up as we got close.

"Here sir." I said holding out the pen. "I think this is yours."

"Ah thank you, Ms. Jackson. I was wondering where this got to, but it is hard to keep track of things when we are a chaperone short." He said. I was about to ask what he ment as Mrs. Dodds had been here for most of the trip, but Rachel elbowed me in the side. Right, it was probably better if I didn't mention the teacher who I had just killed.

"Sir where'd you get the pen, if you don't mind me asking. It could be very useful if we could get two of our own." I said instead. Mr. Brunner's face closed off and hid the pen in his fist.

"I'm afraid that the pen is custom work, and they are not usually available for sale. If you'll excuse me I have to go help the other teachers get their groups together. The two of you should go get on the bus. ." He said before wheeling a way quickly.

Rachel and I just starred at each other. Neither of us need to say a word. Mr. Brunner was hiding something about the pen sword and we would find out what it was.

 **A.N. I am getting more time on my hands so hopefully I will be able to update more. Thought if I find any inspiration later in the week conquest is next on the list to get a new chapter.**

 **1 I know nothing to know about actual fan combat. What I am thinking of for battle fans is a mix between the kioshi warriors from avatar and the fans from the protector of the small quartet by Tamora Peirce who is a fantastic author who is coming out with a new book in February. I would recommend any of her books, thought they are young adult novels, they are fantastic. My favorite are the protector of the small quartet and the two trickster book.**

 **2 these plays are real and the three of them go over what happens when Agamemnon comes back from the trojan war. The first play is about Clytemnestra killing her husband and the second is about her son killing her to avenge his father and the third is about furies chasing Oresties to Athens after he commits matricide. If you like tragedies read the ancient plays by Aeschylus and Euripides. They are kind of like ancient fanfictions on homers works and other myths.**


	5. We Stalk a Stalker and I Learn to Fear

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan is a genius when it comes to adapting mythology and I wish I could have written what he has.**

 **Thank you for everyone who reviewed that they like the story, and favorited or followed my story. I am sorry it took so long to update, but I had a major bit of writers block on this stories and was also distracted by other projects for a while. Every time I write a new chapter for my stories I say that I will try to update sooner, but I never seem to get around to writing on a decent schedule, or getting rid of my writers block sorry. It also didn't help that I got a new job a new house and a new laptop after my old one decided that it didn't like to have a mocha Frappuccino spilt on it. I was going to try to have a new chapter but right now I am following the book chapters pretty closely another chapter or two and that will change, but for now I am ending chapters close to where they end in the book.**

 **Goddess bubbles: I am not sure what I will do about the giant war I never got into that series as much as I got into the original series, but I do like the characters. I have some ideas on where this story will go once the titian war is over but nothing is definite, and I might change my mind completely at some point as this probably will be a long story, covering five books. Also a girl needs verity in her weapons doesn't she.**

" _Ancient Greek"_

" **Latin"**

 **We Stalk a Stalker and I Learn to Fear Socks**

The second Rachel and I were off the bus we headed to our room. (We've been roommates since sixth grade.) Over the course of a weekend trip Mr. Brunner had turned from a nice teacher with a creepy assistant to someone interesting. I had never paid a ton of attention to Mr. Brunner unless I was going over Grover's and my plans for tournament days. I considered him a nice teacher, who knew his subject enough to make it fun to learn, but all my attention was usually on Creepy Grover. In hindsight I should have realized that if Grover was up to something, then his boss might be in on it too. Unfortunately appearances are often taken at face value and who would suspect a kind teacher in a wheel chair who constantly wears tweed jackets.

Rachel and I got to our room and split up. I headed to Rachel's desk and rummaged through the draws until I found the packet of sharpies she always has. Rachel headed to her closet and pulls out the giant sketch pad she owns then set it up on her painting easel. The sketch pad is our planning pad, and it's seen a decent amount of use during our time at Elizabeth's. Anytime Rachel and I needed to get back at a teacher or student we set up the pad and plan out what's needed and how far our revenge will go.

The pad helped us plan some of our best and most infamous pranks. There was the time we replaced all the knitting club's yarn with balls of spaghetti. They reneged on their deal to knit scarves to sell at Rachel's save the trees charity booth at the fall fair. Then of course we went with an old classic and glued our English teacher's desk to the ceiling upside-down. The teacher was a horrible bully, and like to target kids like me who had learning disabilities. After the teacher made a girl cry for having dyslexia like me, Rachel and I declared war on the teacher. It only took us a month to get the teacher to quit. After they got the desk down we rigged it at least once a week to launch paint at the teacher after she opened a draw. We never used the same drawer twice either. A couple of other girls joined in on the pranking too, once they saw the teacher getting hit. By the end of the month about a third of the class was making the woman's life miserable. We might have been a bit cruel, but the woman should not have been a teacher if she was going to bully students for things that they had no say in.

Of course we also made sure that we are never caught. My Mom and Mother would be disappointed in me if I got in trouble at Elizabeth's after it cost my dad so much to send me here, though I think my dad would find most of them funny. Rachel's dad probably wouldn't care the first couple of times, but to much trouble and he would protect his image by sending her to a school away from my bad influence. Because of course I'm the bad influence, it's not like Rachel isn't an evil genius in her own right.

Right now the Pad would not be used to plan a prank, but instead to plan what we would do about Mr. Brunner.

"Alright first things first. What do we know about Mr. Brunner?" Rachel said as she drew a sketch of the teacher while writing his name next to the picture.

"Well he came in two months into the year after Mr. Blake took over English once Ms. Carson quit. He also knows his subject really well. Like not just the history and mythology, but he's fluent in both Latin." I told her and she writes it out under the picture.

"Now what about Grover are we positive the two are connected?" she asked

"There's no doubt about it. Grover was originally Mr. Blakes TA remember and then he stayed with the Latin position instead of following Mr. Blake to English. He also seemed really buddy, buddy with Mr. Brunner the second he started and a week after he started Grover and I were pushed together to plan the tournament days. Besides it had to be Grover to warned Mr. Brunner, about Mrs. Dobbs."

"Are you sure that warning Mr. Brunner counts, he probably just saw a teacher bullying us, and went to get the adult he trusted most. I mean nobody else really sees monsters." Rachel said.

"But then how would Mr. Brunner know it bring a sword. Grover had to know what was going on, which means but he and Mr. Brunner most be able to see the monsters." I said to her.

"But if they could see the monster and had a monster killing sword then why didn't they get rid of Mrs. Dobbs at the start of the trip? Why did they wait for her to attack? Also where did they get a monster killing sword, and why did it turn into a pen?" she asked.

"I don't know, but that's what we need to find out. As well as why Grover seems so interested in me, because we know now that Mr. Brunner has to be connected to that too." I said.

"Right so what are we going to do about it." Rachel said as she flips to a knew page now that the old one is full of information, and writes down ACTIONS across the top.

"We need to know what they know and they're not going to answer any of our questions not with Mr. Brunner already deflecting our questions about the sword. I noticed that when they're in public and they want to have a private conversation the speak Latin to each other. They stopped doing that around me as soon as they realized that I'm fluent, but I've heard a few girls mentioning that they still do it when I'm not around."

"You know I'm not fluent in Latin but, I can recognize when some is speaking the language and I have a tape recorder packed away somewhere. I can keep a close eye on them and try to record them when ever they slip into Latin. Actually…" she trailed off as she pulls her laptop off her desk. "Let me send Molly (Rachel's nanny slash house keeper) a email to send me some more recorders. I'll tell her I need them to study for final exams and she'll have them overnighted. That way we can bug Mr. Brunner's office and classroom. Do you know if he lives on campus."

"Whoa there Red, there's no way we're getting a recorder into his apartments. If we're caught, we'll be expelled and Mr. Brunner will be fired. We only have a month and half until school's over, and we don't need Mr. Brunner out of reach before we get what we need." I say to calm down my friend. Some people may think that I'm the crazy one in our friendship, but Rachel can get down right insane when she gets an idea into her head. Last summer she spent two weeks living in a tree, to keep her dad from tearing it down to build an expansion onto his summer cabin. I know one day I'm going to hear a news story about Rachel standing in front of bulldozers to stop deforestation in the Amazon.

"Fine" she said with a pout, "But we can still bug his office and class room right?"

"Of course" I said with a grin. Just then the Sketch pad and easel fly at us as the windows are forced open by a huge gust of wind. I rushed and struggled to get the windows back in place as Rachel ran to grab all her pictures that were being blown about the room. Finally I got the windows closed and was able to focus on what was going on outside. It seems that while we were talking another storm had moved.

I lost count of how many storms we had had this year. Usually the weather in early spring is nice, sure you get the odd march snow storm, but other then some rain in April there are no problems. This year ever since winter break we've had storm after storm and even in January and February they were thunderstorms not snow storms. This weekend was the nicest weather in a long time and we still had thunder popping out of nowhere while at the MET.

"Are your drawings okay?" I asked. "I can't believe we're having another storm."

"It's climate change. This is the world's way of punishing us for all the pollution that we push into the skies and seas" Rachel starts before a huge crash of thunder sounds and the lights in our room flicker.

"Maybe we should get ready for bed. I don't want to have to change into my pjs by flash light if the power goes out. we can plan where to put the bugs once the tape recorders get here." I suggest already getting changed and into bed.

"Your right. Night Ducky." She said as she hits the lights.

"Don't call me Ducky! Night Red."

Two days later we finally get the tape recorders , and go to work setting one up under Mr. Brunner's desks in his classroom and office, and just to be thorough we put one in Creepy Grover's closet of an office as well. The recorders are high quality, with long lasting batteries and a remote that can turn them on and off. Rachel and I plan to turn them on everyday at seven on our way to breakfast and take turns sneaking out to turn them off at midnight. The recorders have enough battery that we only need to replace them once a week. Unfortunately, we go to check them after the first week and find that none of the recorders are there.

"Maybe they lost battery quicker than we thought they would and Mr. Brunner heard the low battery beeps. We should replace them and check back in three days." Rachel suggests. Unfortunately we go back in three days to check the new recorders and discover that they're also gone. We try to hide the recorders in different places and check them every night, but they are always gone. One time we were able to find one still hidden in Grover's office, but all it had on it was static.

Things didn't get better and the weeks leading up to the end of school sucked. We ran out of recorders and Rachel had to order more which took a week since she couldn't ask Molly to send more over night with out it looking suspicious. The other part of the plan wasn't working out either. Rachel was sent to the guidance counselor at the end of May, because some teachers had noticed her fixation with Grover and Mr. Brunner. She had to have two weeks of Counseling about why it was un healthy for a girl her age to have a crush on and stalk a teacher.

I was also sent to the counselor, when a teacher heard me threaten to punch another girl. The girl was trying to make fun of the fact that I was a bastard. Which had just come out during a family tree project when people noticed that I had my mom's last name Jackson and not my dad's name Palirroias. Cue tons of mean girls trying to take advantage of the info in the last three weeks of school. It wasn't just the bullying that was getting me angry though. Rachel and I pranked the shit out of the bullies. It was also the failure we were facing in getting information and believe or not the weather.

It felt like the worse the weather got the more angry and frustrated I got. I even snapped a Rachel a time or two and one time we got into a huge shouting match after another failed bugging attempt. We both apologized after we cooled down, but my mood was just getting worse.

It was after another fight with Rachel that we or rather I made any progress with Mr. Brunner and Grover. It was four days before school let out and Rachel decided to propose bugging Mr. Brunner's office again. I spent over an hour arguing with her to stop her from doing it. We would get caught, and while Rachel's Dad could just buy a new school wing to keep her from being expelled, my parents would not be able to ( Probably don't know how much money a mob boss makes, but probably not enough legally to donate a building to a prep school.). As I tried to calm down from the argument, I found that I still had the mythology book that Mr. Brunner let me borrow when I agreed to help with his classes.

I grabbed the book and headed to Mr. Brunner's office hoping that he would still be there so I could return it. I reached the office and was about to knock when I heard something I never expected to at Elizabeth's. I quickly pushed my ear as close to the door as possible so I could listen to the conversation that was taking place in Ancient Greek.

… _found one attached to the top of the blinds."_ I heard Grover say.

" _Well you have to be impressed by their persistence."_ Mr. Brunner said.

" _Impressed sure, not to mention really annoyed. We can't even speak English anymore because we can't find one of the tape recorders that they put in my office. We can't even tell if it was fried by the jammer, Bekendorf sent you, because they got so good at hiding the cursed things."_

" _I know, with the recorders and the pranks on the other girls, I wouldn't be surprised if Ms. Jackson doesn't belong to the messenger."_

" _Are you sure, she was powerful enough to attract a kindly one, though if she is one of his she might actually have something to do with what happened on the solstice."_

" _No she seems to be completely ignorant of her heritage, and if she is a legacy, it would make sense that she would be stronger than average. You'll keep a close eye on her and protect her until she gets where she needs to be. Enough searching, we won't find the device, and we have to finish grading finals."_

I heard them moving in the office and realized they were headed to the door, so I booked it back to my dorm. That night after I shook her awake, Rachel and I went over all I heard and realized that it wasn't much, but it was more than we had before. We were also kind of proud that we were annoying Mr. Brunner and Grover with the recorders. We were annoyed that they kept being found, so it was nice to know that we were giving as good as we got.

It's the last day of school, two nights since I overheard the conversation between Mr. Brunner and Grover and Rachel and I still didn't have any more information. Unfortunately I realized that I still hadn't returned Mr. Brunner's book. With all the excitement of finally getting some information, I forgot why I had been there in the first place.

I grab the book and head to Mr. Brunner's office hopping that he's still here, or that his office was unlocked so I could at least leave the book in it. Unfortunately, I had no time to track him down, I was taking a bus back to the city and if I wanted to make it I had to hurry. Rachel had already left for the airport, she would be spending the next three weeks with her parents in Miami. Thankfully luck was on my side and Mr. Brunner was still around.

"Mr. Brunner," I said as I knock on his open door. "I came to return your book."

"Oh yes, thank you for remembering. If you could just put it in the box with the other's." He said pointing to a box in the by his book shelf. It was weird seeing Mr. Brunner's office in such disarray. The man was a serious neat freak and always had everything in it's place, something that made finding hiding places for the recorders a pain. _I could hide a dozen recorders in the office now and I'm sure they would never be found_. Not that it mattered anymore now that school was over. I put down the book and headed to the door when Mr. Brunner's voice stops me.

"It's for the best you know." He said

"What?" I asked

"It's for the best that none of your recording devices caught anything, though I have to say some of your hiding places we ingenious." He replied

"I'm sorry recording devices?" I asked trying to sound as confused as possible, while I panicked. If he reported Rachel and I we could be kept from returning next year, which probably being sent to different schools not to mention my parents disappointment if I was expelled.

"Yes recording devices. It seems that someone has been trying to spy on my office, thankfully none of them caught anything. There is some knowledge that people are not ready for. I could be dangerous and it is not ment to be shared with other people either, some people can't understand certain situations. " he said. I felt challenged by his response, and since it didn't seem like he would turn Rachel and me in, I felt safe in answering.

"If that knowledge is about someone being in danger it's better to tell them so they can be prepared, forewarned is forearmed. And everyone needs allies, especially loyal friends who can see what you don't." I retorted "Excuse me sir I have to go, I don't want to miss my bus." I said getting out of there before my anger at being told that I couldn't know about something happening in my own life, because Mr. Brunner and Grover certainly had information about me that I didn't. Not to mention he ment that my best friend would be better with out this information as well even though it could probably lead her into danger as well.

My anger settled to a background simmer by the time I am seated on the bus and I started to focus more on my excitement to be on my way home. I try to dreamt about all the things I would do this summer, including finally confronting my dad about his mob ties. The secrecy has gone on too long and I feel like things would get even more dangerous soon. I could just imagine my parents' faces once I tell them I know. I would have to have a camera handy because I am sure that they all think I am completely in the dark about what I know. Their startled faces will make great blackmail at some point.

Unfortunately, my summer daydreams were interrupted by an annoyingly persistent presence sitting next to me. Grover the stalker was sitting next to me and I had a feeling that he would be with me all the way to the city. I resisted the urge to bang my head on the window as I turn to face the creep.

"Hello Grover, what a coincidence that we are on the same bus into the city. Do you live in Manhattan too." I asked through clenched teeth as I my anger at Mr. Brunner finds a secondary target and flares once more.

"No, ha ha." He gives a nervous laugh as he answers. "I live on Long Island, but this is the quickest way to get home since I'll just take a train from the city once we arrive."

"Whatever, I'm going to read so don't bother me." I tell him before pulling out the French copy of Goblet of fire that Rachel had gotten me as an early birthday present. I started the series this year and absolutely loved it, especially since the series was easy to get in other languages. For good measure I put in a pair of earbuds and turned on my music so I'd have a valid reason to not hear anything Grover said to me if he wanted interrupt my reading.

We were about an hour into our journey when the bus started to make grinding noises loud enough to be heard over my music. I look to the front of the bus and see white smoke billowing in front of the windshield. The driver quickly pulls over and directs everyone off the smoking bus. I looked around once we are outside and see that we are across the street from a country fruit stand, manned by three old ladies, who looked to be knitting a huge pair of socks, out of blue wool.

I studied the fruit stand trying to decide if anything they had was worth crossing the road for, when I saw that they have mangos in their stand. I loved all tropical fruit but mangos with their bright sweet yellow flesh were a weakness of mine. I quickly patted my pockets making sure I didn't leave my wallet in my bag on the bus before I take a step toward the stand. Grover who I'd been ignoring at that point looks over in the direction I was heading and grabs my arm.

Faster than he probably though I could move I had his middle finger bent back almost to the back of his hand, before grabbing the rest of his arm and twisting it behind him. I felt him wince and try to struggle a bit. I quickly put more force into my hold, making it even more painful.

"Try to move and I'll break your arm. I put up with all the stalking and didn't report you at school even though I thought it was creepy as hell, but there is no way I am letting you lay a hand on me. Now I'm going to let go of your arm and you are going to back up and leave me alone. If you don't I'll do more than break your arm, got it?" I said giving the arm a vicious twist.

"I get it! please let go." He whimpered . Grover backed up quickly once I release him and I turned back to the fruit stand.

"Wait." He said, "You should stay with the bus, it's safer." I wanted to roll my eyes, Grover never gives up does he.

"Look I'm hungry, and it's only across the street, I'll be fine. Besides it's not like we'll be going anywhere soon." I said gesturing at the smoke still present at the front of the bus. The second Grover turned his head to look, I made my escape across the street.

I get to the stand and my mouth watered, the mangos look even better up close, all plump without any wrinkles or bruises. I could practically taste the mangoy goodness already.

"Excuse me." I said to one of the old ladies.

"Just a minute dearie we are almost done, this is the trickiest part." The one in the middle said. The second I hear her voice I suddenly think that Grover was right and I was safer across the street. There was no clear way to describe the lady's voice. The only thing I could say about was that as she spoke, I felt as though I was viewing a never ending maze, and it was only when her voice quieted that I felt as though there might be a way to leave the endless infinity that she evoked. I swallowed a few time trying to get moisture to my suddenly dry mouth.

"T-Take all the time you need I just wanted to buy some fruit."

"Oh it won't take much longer. After all things should never run one too long." The one on the right said before reaching over and cutting the yarn that lead to the ball the last sister was holding. The snick of the scissors, sent shivers down my spine. I swear that I felt as though something I me snapped with the sound, and the lady's voice didn't help either. Unlike the first to speak, this lady's voice slammed into me like a brick wall. If I tried I doubt I would be able to even take a step forward through the force it had over me.

I was broken out of whatever trance the voice had on me, by a brown bag that filled my vision. The third lady had finished winding up the excess the yarn and had trust a bag in front of my face.

"Here dear, no charge, but you should head back it looks like you bus is going to leave soon." Her voice pushed me forward, and my heart starts racing like I'm going to start a great adventure. I didn't even think to argue and sprinted back across the road.

In my seat I try to ground myself, but I was a loose piece of kelp being swept away in the tide. I was brought back to dry land by a hand on my arm. Grover was touching me again and now I couldn't be more grateful. At least I felt that way until I looked at his face.

He was as pale as I felt.

"They didn't cut the string right? Tell me they didn't cut the string." He demanded.

"I can't" I said back and he drops my arm like it burned him. Grover slumped against the seat and whispering under his breath makes a claw in front of his heart and pushes it away, as though he could push my words away.

"So young. They are always so young." He kept reaping under his breath.

"Look it's okay, it was just three ladies finishing up their knitting. It's not like someone is going to die." I said to try and calm both our nerves, but I know that's not true. I have seen some weird things over the years, and I know when someone is not human. But I don't want to believe it. Not with those three. Not with what I saw them do.

Grover looked over at me and I see he believes me as much as I believe myself. Staring at me like he was picking out my funeral flowers, he hands me a white card. The card has beautiful flowing scrip on it that's killer on my dyslexia. Eventually I am able to make out what it says.

 _Grover Underwood_

 _Keeper_

 _Half-Blood Hill_

 _Long Island, New York_

 _800-009-0009_ _1_

"What's" I started.

"Don't" Grover said sterner than I ever heard him. "I know you don't trust me, but promise me that you will give your mother that card and teller her everything that happened today. Promise me."

"I promise. But what is this?"

"It's a safe place, and that's all I'll say right now. Just make sure you give your mom that card, as soon as you get home."

 **1 The card is the same as the one that Grover gives Percy in Rick Riordan's** _ **Lightning Thief,**_ **I felt no need to change the location or phone number of camp half blood.**


End file.
